While Premiership Rugby has done a superb job of managing to run the best and most competitive league in rugby, the PRO14 continues to lurch from one baffling format to another. The much-vaunted Rainbow Cup has gone from being a not terribly sensible concept to a semicomprehensible shambles! I believe that in a real league every team should play every other, home and away. The PRO14 conference system is daft: each team in a conference of six played each other home and away, and then played each of the six teams in the other conference either home or away!
Hang on you say, that's a PRO12, not a PRO14. Correct, the two South African teams were grounded, one by Covid, and the other by liquidation. Inevitably the final was between Leinster and Munster.
I feel for South African rugby – they're stuck thousands of miles away from Europe and their teams therefore face the boring prospect of just playing each other time and again, or trying to shoe-horn themselves into a distant tournament.
PRO14 fans have always faced challenges with expensive travel but when South Africa was chucked into the mix things just became crazy. The message most supporters would have taken is that they'd become even less relevant. This was rugby as nothing more than television fodder. I won't even try to explain the format for this first Covid-affected Rainbow Cup, let's just say it made a lot less sense than simply cancelling it. When you watch this afternoon's game between Exeter and Newcastle, the culmination of yet another great weekend of Premiership rugby, just offer a silent vote of thanks for a league that's meaningful.
Mike Brown is the ultimate Marmite player: adored by Quins fans, and heartily disliked by plenty of opposition supporters for his uber-competitive nature.
Although he can give a great impression of being Mr Angry, he has never been a dirty player, and the finding that the recent stamp on Wasps' Tommy Taylor's head was reckless and not deliberate, seemed perfectly reasonable.
However, I'm mystified by the decision to appeal against the six-week ban. While some disciplinary decisions continue to baffle and infuriate supporters, a recent addition is an infographic that shows clearly the logic the panel applied in reaching their view.
In Brown's case they decided that this was a toplevel offence (carrying a 12-week starting point) because there was head contact, it was reckless, the player was injured, and was in a vulnerable position. However, they then decided there was no aggravation because of Brown's previous good record, and they applied the maximum degree of mitigation allowed which is 50 per cent. In the circumstances the ban surely couldn't have been any less than six weeks?
It seems the grounds for appeal were based on sentiment –a loyal servant shouldn't end his time at the club in such an unfortunate way. Thankfully that wasn't allowed to influence a clearly thought through decision.
Henry Slade has gone public about his refusal to take the Covid vaccination. Being vaccinated is voluntary, and he is therefore entirely within his rights.
However, with rights come responsibilities, and on a weekend when a PRO14 game between Ulster and the Scarlets was cancelled because of four positive tests, his decision might well have consequences.
Once everyone who wants the vaccine has had it how will other players feel about coming into close contact with someone who has refused it?
They too have rights and should they be obliged to play a contact sport with someone they know not to have that protection?
